The American Journey
by Captain Sarckle
Summary: A story of a Pokemon adventure set in America with original characters.
1. Ch: 1 The Last Day

The bell rings out over the schoolyard. The students all head for the doors to continue classes, except two boys. Alex calls back the manectric and calls out to Logan across the arena, "Its time to head on it. Guess we'll have to call it a draw." Logan calls back with a grin, "What are they gonna do? We leave tomorrow, lets finish the battle. I mean we can't leave our last schoolyard battle like this."

Alex runs his hand through his light brown hair and calls Manectric from his ball. "Lets at least make it quick, okay?" "When have I ever dragged out a battle?" was Logan's response. With Manectric back on the field Nidoking prepares himself for the battle to continue.

"You know Alex, Manectric is at a disadvantage here. Too bad the kingler you used earlier isn't still able to battle. Nidoking, EARTH POWER!" Manectric felt the ground trembling and leapt to the side just in time. "Type isn't everything Logan. Manectric, quick attack." Manectric bolted at Nidoking in a blur of blue and yellow. "Nidoking, double kick." Nidoking swept his leg at the speeding manectric. Manectric jumped over Nidoking's leg and hit him square in the chest. Nidoking lost his balance and fell to the ground. "Get up and use megahorn!" Nidoking started pushing himself to his feet when Alex called out, "Manectric use swift." Stars circled Manectric's head and launched towards Nidoking. The battle was over.

"Okay, now lets get back to class. Its our last day and all, they'll probably be going over the selection process. I just happen to know that you haven't looked over anything in preparation, Logan, so you could probably use the lecture.

"I've been preparing for tomorrow since I was old enough to walk. You're the one that needs help Alex. You'll probably walk away with a magikarp." Logan laughed at the thought of his friend training a magikarp.

"Like you'll come away any better, bud. I mean you probably still believe that you'll be coming out with a charmander. You do know how many times people have come across charmanders in the Reserve, don't ya?"

"Hey if my dad could do it, then so can I. Just watch, I'm getting a charmander I just know it, then you'll be standing there jealous with your magikarp."

The boys reached the steps into the building. They stopped off at the rental room to return the pokemon they used during break. The clerk looked at the boys and said, "You two had better hurry, they're about to close the doors. You wouldn't want to miss orientation and not get your bus pass would you?"

Alex and Logan looked at each other, both realizing they had completely forget they had to get the pass for the bus tomorrow from orientation. They took off running down the halls. They turned the corner and saw their homeroom teacher closing the auditorium doors. Just as the door was almost closed, the teacher reopened them and called out to the boys, "You're lucky I saw you boys." She gave them a smile as they slipped through the door without a breath left.

They found two empty seats near the back and tried to catch their breath as Professor Osage took the stage. She was wearing the classic white professor's coat. Her long blonde hair hung to her waist in a thick braid with two thin braids flowing down her front over her shoulder. Logan and Alex knew the professor well, just the same as the other kids. Through their school years all the kids meet with Professor Osage a great number of times, especially in the year leading up to Selection.

"Welcome to Orientation, who's excited about tomorrow?" The auditorium roars in cheers. "Well I'm not big on speeches, so here's a choice. We can either sit here for a couple hours going over stuff you all know, or we can sit here for a couple minutes before going home. So everyone be quiet real quick." Silence falls over the crowd at the professor's request. "Now if anybody wants me to go over EVERYTHING, and I mean everything, speak up now." She cupped a hand to her ear and leaned to the crowd. She was met with silence. "Good, then I'll go over a few things and you can all go home to prep for tomorrow." The silence broke in a roar of thunderous applause. "So remember to pack plenty of clothes, food, water, and all the necessities. 'Cause a week doesn't sound like much right now but if you don't prep correctly it will feel like an eternity by day 4. And please remember Selection isn't about you picking a pokemon, its about building a relationship. How many of you plan on returning home before setting out after Selection is over?" About half the crowd rose their hands, but Logan and Alex kept their hands down. "Well that's not a surprise seeing as how close we are to the Reservation, but those of you setting out immediately should take that into account when you pack. I think that's it, have fun on your adventures. If anybody has any questions for me I'll be in the main office for a while, everybody else is free to go home and get ready for tomorrow. Don't forget your bus pass as your leaving the auditorium, you wouldn't want to not be able to get on the bus would you?" She winked at the crowd and exited the stage.

The boys stopped by the ticket booth to get their passes before leaving the auditorium and heading back to Logan's house. Logan lived outside of town on a farm with his sister Clair. About halfway there, Logan noticed something off about his bus pass. "Hey Alex, our school is zone 22, isn't it?"

"Yea, come on you know that, bud."

"My pass is marked zone 23. Do you think its a typo?"

Alex pulled out his pass to double check, but his was marked for zone 22. "You do live kinda far outta town, maybe you're technically in the next zone over, bud. What zone was Clair in, do ya remember?"

It had been 8 years since his sister had left for Selection. He could barely remember any of it between being 8 himself and the events that followed her return home. "No, I don't remember. I guess we can ask when we get out there."

"Hey on the bright side, if you get to start at zone 23, you'll have a head start on me." Alex smiled at his friend, trying to relieve Logan's distress about starting in zone 23. Although they were closer than most to the Arena, it was still a good 2 hour trip and everyone Logan knew would be heading to zone 22.

Logan looked up from his pass, gave Alex a thumbs up and declared, "I'll beat you to Seattle, just like I'll beat you in the tournament." Later in the year, a tournament was being hosted in Seattle open to all with 5 badges. The boys had decided that the Seattle Open would be a good first goal.

Alex looked down at his watch, "What would ya know, we'd better hurry if we want to catch the show, bud. Erin is supposed to have a challenger today at 1. I know how ya like to catch her battles." Alex gave Logan a nudge and took off running towards the house. Logan put up his pass and took off after Alex.

As he was running, the idea of zone 23 pushed up through his thoughts. He reassured himself that it would be fine, it wasn't as if he was traveling with anybody from school anyways. The only person he would've thought about traveling with was Alex, but he wanted to go different ways and decided on traveling solo instead of compromising.

The two boys reached Logan's house completely out of breath. Logan could feel the sweat dampening his dark black hair. He wiped his forehead and entered the house behind Alex. Upon entering the kitchen they found Clair preparing lunch. "Howdy boys, did Osage skimp out on the speech again?" She spun around with three dishes in hand. "Luckily, I foresaw that and made enough lunch for everybody." She set down the plates and swept the hanging red hair from her face. She gave the boys a big smile and said, "But you'd better hurry if you're planning on catching Erin's match. I heard that challenger isn't too hot so it'll probably be short."

The boys scarfed down their lunches and turned for the living room. Logan paused and turned to his sister, "Hey Clair, which zone did you go to for Selection?"

Clair gave a big grin, "Are you trying to say you don't remember? I'm hurt bro, to think you would forget something like that." She turned to the magby that jumped onto the counter. "You hear this Maggs? Little Logan doesn't remember what zone I went to." Maggs covered her mouth in an expression of surprise as Clair feigned a feinting motion.

Logan couldn't help but laugh at Clair and Maggs. "You know I'm sorry and all, but I'm just so forgetful. Silly me forgetting something from when I was 8 and more interested in the other aspects of your Selection than your zone number. Now, if your highnesses would forgive me for my lapse in memory, I was just wondering cause my pass is marked 23 instead of 22. We didn't realize till we were almost here so I couldn't ask Osage."

"Yea bro, our house is just on the other side of the dividing line. You'll be going to zone 23. You're gonna be the only person from here on that bus. I at least had the Plasic twins with me, although it might've been better without 'em. You hadn't made plans to leave with Alex from zone 22 did you?"

"Nah surprisingly we decided to leave different ways even when we thought we could easily leave together. Just kinda lucky there huh?"

"Get in here, bud, the show's starting."

Logan left through the living room door and heard the tv. "Its Gymania, the number one rated Gym broadcast around. Todays first event comes from a secluded little Gym that doesn't get much action. Its the Heattle Gym with Dark type Leader Erin. Its promising to be quite a show, just as it always is when we get to hear from the little town of Heattle."


	2. Ch: 2 Gymania feat Erin

"Kurt Tillings here on site in Heattle, Idaho. Today small town leader Erin is being challenged by trainer Richard Girk. We've seen Girk a few times here on Gymania, he's a competent trainer with much room for improvement." Kurt Tillings was the perfect man for tv coverage. His voice came out in a deep boom, while still keeping a good pace as not to sound monotonous. His jawline was chiseled and clean shaven, while his dirty blond hair was kept long enough to complement his light tan. He was made for television. "Word has it that Leader Erin Pricken is going debut a new member to her line up. Some believe Erin has finally managed to snag herself an Umbreon. She voiced her desire to train one on many occasions before." An image of a pale skinned beauty appeared over Kurt's shoulder. The image depicted Erin Pricken with her dark black hair flowing across half her face. The parts of her face that weren't covered in hair revealed a light patch of freckles on her right cheek and a bright blue eye. Logan started drifting off at the sight of the Gym Leader, he only snapped back to intention when her image disappeared and two beams of light snapped on in the background behind Tillings.

"Looks like the battle is about to start." The two beams that snapped revealed a young man standing across the room from the beautiful Erin Pricken. Girk shouted across the room, "I challenge Gym Leader Erin to a battle."

"The battle will be a 3 vs 3 single battle." Erin reached her hand to a pedestal beside her. On the pedestal were 6 pokeballs and a button. She pressed the button and lights snapped on. The lights illuminated a battlefield below the two trainers. The field was covered featured large scattered rocks. The size of the rocks mixed with the strategic low placement of the lights cast large patches of shadow throughout the field. Erin grabbed a pokeball, "Lets start with you Sableye!"

The light glinted off Sableye's jewel like eyes. As quickly as it had appeared it vanished in the shadow. Girk reached for a ball and released a Heracross onto the battlefield. "Sableye use shadow sneak." Shadows leaped across the battlefield at an alarming rate. Mere seconds after the command Sableye appeared behind Heracross. The hit landed and Heracross skidded across the ground. Before Heracross had even stopped, Sableye had disappeared into the shadows once again. "HERACROSS ROCK SMASH!"

Erin chuckled at Girk, "Fighting type moves have no effect against Sableye." Heracross's blow landed, but not on Sableye. One of the rocks on the field shattered. Light gleamed across the dark room as light hit the revealed jewel encrusted pokemon, as the shadow disappeared along with the crushed rock. "Ah, clever clever. You might be more of a challenge than I believed. Sableye, faint attack." Sableye shuttered in and out of sight as it approached Heracross. "Heracross use megahorn, now."

Heracross charged at Sableye full speed with its horn in ramming position. Heracross's horn glanced Sableye's shoulder. Quickly recovering from the glancing blow Sableye managed to land a blow to the side of Heracross's head. the two pokemon stood in the light slightly dazed by the exchange of blows. Sableye looked badly hurt but managed to slip into the shadows. Heracross came to and began demolishing more rocks around the arena. Sableye jumped from shadow to shadow avoiding the vanishing shadows. "Power gem now." Shining beams shot out from the shadows towards Heracross.

Heracross began dodging but the bombardment was too much to avoid being hit completely. "Heracross aerial ace." Heracross moved towards Sableye dodging as many of the power gem hits as possible. It swung its body through the air and landed a speedy blow. Sableye was knocked out by the blow, but Heracross looked to be in bad shape after the barrage of power gem. "Sableye, return. Its your turn, Mandibuzz."

"It appears as if Girk has taken an early lead, but Heracross looks to be badly hurt. With the appearance of Mandibuzz I doubt Girk's Heracross will last much longer," Tillings reported as Mandibuzz soared around battlefield whipping up a tailwind.

"Heracross, close combat." Heracross flew up towards Mandibuzz and began swinging its fists in a mad flurry of strikes. Mandibuzz dived under Heracross, dodging all blows. "Mandibuzz use air slash." A blade of wind flew towards the rampaging Heracross. The hit landed and Girk was forced to call Heracross back. "You did good, Heracross. Dewgong lets finish this."

"Mandibuzz brave bird." The mandibuzz swooped down towards Dewgong. "DEWGONG SHEER COLD!" Erin's mouth dropped open as the battlefield was coated in ice and Mandibuzz fell from the air in mid-flight. The shadows left on the field were diminished thanks to the shine from the ice, but there was still a lot of darkness coating the field.

"That was quite a risky move there. Well, to be honest I kind of hoped you would reach my third pokemon, I just didn't expect it to happen with you having two able bodied pokemon left. It is my proud honor to introduce the newest member of the Heattle Gym." She threw the pokeball and it landed in the shadows releasing the mystery pokemon.

"This is it folks, the new Heattle Gym Pokemon. We are still unclear as to what it is, but we'll surely find out before long. Will it be the long awaited Umbreon, or another devastating addition to the dark Gym Leader's arsenal." Tillings sounded almost uncharacteristically giddy. Without a word from Erin blades of air flew from the shadows. Dewgong managed to avoid most but one blade hit and sent Dewgong sliding across the ice.

"I've been training this pokemon to battle on its own. I feel like it gives an extra element of surprise." Erin's smile peaked out from under the hair brushing across her face.

Tillings spoke out, "It appears as if Erin has taken up a new tactic to throw off the challenger. Without the need to voice commands it gives the challenger less time to react. It will be interesting to see how Girk responds to the new development."

"Dewgong, ice shard." Dewgong rose multiple shards of ice around it self and fired them at the unknown pokemon. In a flash almost too fast to see, an unrecognizable blur sprung from the shadow to another shadow as the shards of ice hit the ground. A glowing purple blade appeared in one of the shadows and it dashed towards Dewgong with the same blur from before. Dewgong fell to the ground unable to battle after being hit by the purple blade. "Dewgong return. It comes down to this, Hariyama."

Hariyama landed on the battlefield. A split second before Girk issued the command for earthquake, a glint of light appeared from the shadow. A blur leaped into the air as the shaking ground shattered all the ice and crumbled all the rocks leaving an open and lit battlefield. As Erin's pokemon landed from its leap, the first recognizable shot of it came to view. A menacing and powerful looking absol stood before Hariyama. Absol began dancing around in front of Hariyama. "Hariyama force palm."

Hariyama lunged towards Absol with his arm stretched out, but he was too slow as the speedy absol slipped behind Hariyama. Absol's blade began shining purple. "Endure, Hariyama." Hariyama bunkered down without even looking at Absol. The purple blade sliced at Hariyama. Hariyama stood up but just barely. "Hariyama reversal." Hariyama moved towards Absol. Absol stood its ground without moving. As Hariyama was inches away from hitting Absol, a purple cloud appeared from thin air and knocked Hariyama out. The battle was over. Girk called Hariyama back to its ball, as Erin descended from her platform down to the battlefield.

Tillings appeared at the edge of the field and made his way to Erin and Absol at the center of the arena. "Wow, may I just say that one more time, wow. That was an amazing showcase of power and speed. A devastating victory using future sight. Absol seems to be a perfect fit for your gym."

"Thanks, Kurt it's always a pleasure when I have the opportunity to battle a strong opponent like Richard Girk. Absol has been training with me for a couple months now, but I decided she was finally ready to battle in an official Gym Battle. She didn't disappoint and I think you'd agree."

"Boy would I, now Erin many rumors suggested that the new member would be an Umbreon, so I think many were surprised when Absol landed in front of Hariyama."

"Well, I would love an Umbreon, but you know as well as I do that an eevee isn't that easy to come by. I actually found Absol, which is also quite rare, while I was looking for an eevee. And Absol has turned out to be a great addition to the team. As you saw in battle she is not only very fast, but packs quite a punch."

"Well, I wish we had more time to talk but we have another Gym to cover today on Gymania. But if I remember right you'll be appearing on a talk show later this week correct?"

"Yea I'll be on the Late Show with Jerry and Castform this Thursday night to talk about Absol and my plans for the future."

"I'm Kurt Tillings and this is it from me. Stay tuned for another exciting battle here on Gymania."

Logan and Alex were stunned by the battle. It was one of the best they had seen in a long time. They smiled at each other knowing that tomorrow they would leave for Selection and their journey would truly start.


End file.
